Most of the damage done in Saturday night’s game between the Greenville Drive and Delmarva Shorebirds was done early on, and the Shorebirds did just a little more en route to a 5-4 victory in game three of the four-game series.

The Drive (25-30, 63-62) scored twice with two outs in the top of the first, as Andrew Benintendi singled to bring home Michael Chavis and came in on a double by Nick Longhi.

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In the bottom half, the Shorebirds (28-27, 61-62) struck back in a hurry against Jalen Beeks (9-5). Following a double by Ademar Rifaela and a single by Steve Wilkerson, Jomar Reyes cracked a three-run homer to left, giving Delmarva a lead they wouldn’t let go of.

The Shorebirds scored twice more in the third when Wilkerson singled and came home on a double by Reyes and Cam Kneeland hit a sacrifice fly.

The game’s remaining runs came in the top of the seventh. Joseph Monge and Hector Lorenzana hit back-to-back singles to begin the inning, and after a double steal, Delmarva misplayed a Danny Mars groundball to bring both runs in.

Despite allowing the two early runs, Matthew Grimes (9-6) got the win for Delmarva by allowing three earned runs in six innings. Tanner Scott recorded his first save by keeping the Drive off the board the final two frames.

Longhi and Mars each collected two hits and an RBI for Greenville, while Mario Alcantara hurled three scoreless innings of relief. Reyes drove in four of Delmarva’s five runs with two hits, and Wilkerson added a pair of hits.

The teams will play the series finale in Maryland on Sunday at 5:05 PM. The Drive will start LH Luis Ramos (1-3, 8.20) as they look for a series split, and RH Josh Walker (8-3, 3.38) takes the hill for the Shorebirds.

The Asheville Tourists appeared to be in control of Saturday evening’s contest against the Rome Braves. The Tourists held three separate two-run leads but the Braves continued to fight. Finally, in the seventh inning, the home team broke through and did so in a big way. Rome used the breakout inning to come away with a 7-4 win.

Asheville watched their 4-2 lead disappear as Rome plated four runs in the bottom of the seventh. The Braves received an RBI infield single from Omar Obregon, a sacrifice fly from Ryan Gebhardt, and a go-ahead RBI single from Wigberto Nevarez. On the Nevarez single, another run came home to score on a Tourists throwing error. Braxton Davidson added an insurance run in the eighth when he left the yard with a solo Home Run.

The Tourists built a 2-0 lead with runs in the second and third. Josh Fuentes opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly. The next inning, Omar Carrizales plated Cesar Galvez with an RBI single. After Rome managed one in the bottom of the fourth, the Tourists responded with a rally in the fifth.

Once again the Braves cut Asheville’s lead to one run but the Tourists kicked it back out to 4-2 when Luis Jean scored on a wild pitch in the top of the seventh. It would not be enough.

Carlos Polanco lasted six innings and did not factor in the decision. Rome’s Oriel Caicedo picked up the win despite not throwing a single pitch with his team in the lead. Evan Phillips kept the Tourists from scoring in the final two frames to earn his second save of the season.

Asheville can still win the series against Rome with a victory on Sunday afternoon. The first pitch is scheduled for 2:00pm.